The invention described herein is related to a processing system for textile and similarly shaped materials. Particularly, the present invention is related to a processing system for dyeing or other processings of knit or woven materials and their open-width and continuous processings.
A particular and externally obvious feature of the present invention is to lead and convey a material through a pre-determined path for processing by the provision of a material guidance device on both side-walls of a processing system.
Processing systems with a side-wall mounted material leading device such as a set of end-less chain for painting, chemical coating, drying or baking, for instance, are publicly known. As for the aspect of textile processing such as dyeing, however, there has never appeared an apparatus conveying textiles to be treated by means of a side-wall mounted endless guidance as, for example, a set of roller chain. The processing system based upon the invention is not only restricted to the open-width processing but also applicable to the processings of materials in rope-form.
Generally, industrial immersed processing systems are categorized into rope-form processing and open-width processing, in terms of the state of a material being processed, of which the winch or jet dyeing process and the jigger dyeing process are typical examples respectively. According to the textile processing industry's text, the winch dyeing process is generally considered to produce deep and even coloring by its full and relaxed immersion and relatively long material immersion time, while a light-coloring effect near the center of a material is often inherent to the jigger dyeing process. On the contrary, the jigger dyeing process is generally effective to avoid producing crease marks, to process with a low dye-liquor-to-material (weight) ratio and to achieve high processing efficiency for its operational simplicity. Furthermore, in jigger dyeing, the ease of color-matching for repeated processes and possible utilization of left-over dye-liquor in a following dyeing cycle are considered to be advantageous. However, because of the low liquor-ratio and highly repetitions immersion processing of the jigger dyeing which results in short transient material immersion time, the use of dye-stuffs with first migration characteristics tends to turn out such undesirable effect as uneven and/or shallow surface-dyeing.
Furthermore, according to cumulative experience, it is considered to be essential for the winch or jet dyeing process to maintain such high liquor-to-material (weight) ratios as 20 to 1 in order to achieve even dyeing with the material speed as low as 50 to 120 m/min which is the upper most rope-form material speed for winch or jet dyeing equipments not to cause excessive and unevenly distributed tension in the subjected material due to twisting of the material and friction between the material and a conveyance device such as a frame-type reel.
The processing system of the invention, which combines the advantageous features of both rope-form (winch or jet) and open width (jigger) processing methods while minimizing their disadvantageous influences, enables to achieve a maximum processing material speed as high as 250 m/min and a processing liquor-to-material (weight) ratio as low as 6 to 1 or 10 to 1 by the system's open-width processing feature which contributes to an even distribution of tension in a subjected material and a consistent motion of the loaded material immersed in a processing solution, while simultaneously increasing chemical reaction efficiency by the uniformity of the state of contact between the processing solution and the immersed material.
Besides the system's so-called low-liquor-ratio processing feature which substantially (by the factor of 3.3 in the case of the 6 to 1 processing liquor-ratio, against a normal 20 to 1 processing liquor-ratio of the winch or jet dyeing process) reduces the amount of required processing solution per a unit material and consequently minimizes the after treatment for used processing solution, the features such as high chemical reaction efficiency and processing uniformity are also effective to achieve a better processing economy. Furthermore, the features such as high labor productivity that is typical of the jigger dyeing process and the ease of quality control of the winch or jet dyeing process are conserved by the processing system -- with the mechanized material handling and processing features and the full and relaxed immersion, respectively -- of the invention.
In addition to the features described above, the processing system of the invention enables to compose a unique continuous processing system that is highly flexible in processing materials selection and adapting varied processing requirements (methods) on the contrary to conventional continuous processing means, for the system's flexibility in processing control that is due to the fact that each processing system in the continuous processing range can be controled independently from other sub-systems. The significances of the achievement of a further increase in productivity by such continuous system than it is possible with a single-system operation and the need of such efficient processing mean in today's cost-conscious industry are apparent. For another example, the continuous processing system of the invention enables to provide a closed-type processing system such as a high-pressure vessel in the continuous processing range (ref. FIG. 9) without such sealing elements as nip-rolls which are tightly pressed against a material when the material passes through inlet and outlet openings, so that such matters as color- and pattern-mixing on printed materials and damaging material bulkiness are fundamentally avoided. Furthermore, when it is used for steaming, for instance, any suitable processing time can be selected, without the extension of a processing equipment in order to extend a traveling time of a material through the equipment, by recirculating a subjected material in the processing system for any designed length of time before subjecting the material to another operation.
Although the invention is mainly described in the following sections as a dyeing apparatus, it is not only related to a dyeing purpose but also applicable to various other purposes such as scouring, bleaching and relaxing, to the processing of delicate materials such as knit goods for which low-tension processing and processing uniformity are essential and, in principal, to the purposes such as drying and steaming. Furthermore, the processing system of the invention is not only suitable to knit or woven materials but, in principal, also applicable to the processings of the materials other than textile products.
As indicated in the preceding sections, this is the invention with the three primary features which are open-width processing, low-liquor-ratio processing and continuous processing with versatility which is based upon its applicant's long experience in the field of textile processing and his consciousness about industrial feasibility and introduces a new mean to deal directly with the shortcomings of existing processing technology and the problems in regard with industrial waste-water control that is one of the most concerned matter in today's industry.